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A Global Look at Transgender Mental Health
@simply__me
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Intro….1
Thailand…2
Hawaii..…4
Uganda……5
El Salvador….7
Sweden…9
Kate Lewis
Justin Siu
Cherisse Sen
Valeria Rivera
Angie Mar
Sam Segal
Transgender. By Kate Lewis
Is it a disease, as it is still classified by the World Health Organization? Is it a choice? A way in which someone is born? According to WHO, transgender is a term for people whose gender identity and expression do not conform to the norms as well as to those assigned to them at birth. Transgenderism includes people who are transsexual, people who are transgender, and anyone else whose gender is considered nonconforming. Only in 2013, when DSMIV was released, did the American Psychiatric Association update its criteria for gender identity disorder to differentiate it from sexual disorders and paraphilic disorders. In large part, in the medical community, transgenderism is lumped together with gay, lesbian, and bisexual, and considered a concern mostly in regard to the global spread of HIV. In fact, the only contact information listed for transgenderism at WHO is the HIV/AIDS department.
(adj.) denoting or relating to a person whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender. But globally, there are more issues linked to transgenderism than just HIV. Across different cultures, there are a variety of terms someone who is transgender might use to identify themselves. In India, transgender people use the word “hijra,” and in Thailand, they refer to themselves as “kathoey.” And across these cultures, there are also different struggles that come with being a “nonconformist” transgender person. In September 2015, the UN called for urgent action to end violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of all ages. It’s perhaps the most commonly thought of struggle. But a lesser known, often overlooked struggle many of these people face is in regard to their mental health. Statistically speaking, transgender people are at a drastically higher risk for things like depression, anxiety, selfharm, and suicidal ideation or attempts. A study in Boston published
in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that transsexual youth had a two-fold or three-fold increased risk of psychiatric disorders. The UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute reported that transgender individuals have a 41 percent prevalence of suicide attempts; it’s a stark contrast to the 4.6 percent prevalence for the general population in the United States. This number is also significantly higher than the 10-20 percent of lesbian, gay, or bisexuals who report attempting suicide. In regard to depression, the American Journal of Public Health reported in 2001 that 55-62 percent of transgender persons were depressed. This newsletter hopes to delve deeper into this topic and the people behind transgenderism to find similarities across cultures and ways in which we as a global community can learn from each other to improve the mental health of transgender individuals.